(This is from my journal, with some updates after reviewing the maps. Disclaimer on the specific ruin names - I'm guessing based on pictures and maps, but welcome any corrections)
Day 3 Inca Trail 2:51pm
We have an hour free time between lunch and a short hike to the Inca ruin Winaywayna. I have been too exhausted to write each night and besides, I'm in a two person tent with both Chetsi & Megan. So for now, I've stolen away from the campsite. I walked on the trail until I thought I could see the mountains and write. Well as it happened, I could see the mountains from this spot until I sat down. My seat is one of the granite rock stairs that are my poor ankle's enemy. My neighbors are grasses, ferns, mosses... I spy vines extended toward me, kelp like ferns tumbling off the cliff face, and yellow algae smeared across the rocks like paint. Even without a perfect view of Salkantay ("The Savage") peak, it is a beautiful place to sit up in the cloud forest "high jungle."
Honestly, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to explore my surroundings. Each hike moves briskly along the path, and I must concentrate, hard, on each of the broken rocks beneath my feet. Anytime my mind wanders, my left ankle rolls in protest. No ruminating, no epiphanies on this trek: the rhythm of my labored breathing, quick footfalls and the frantic tapping of my trekking pole dominate my thoughts.
On the first day, I surprised myself. I kept at the heels of our guides, Hector and Miguel. 90% mental, I'd remind myself when my breath escaped me. Sure enough, right before I'd cry mercy, they'd stop us for a break. I began to believe, to trust in my own ability. I felt amazing at the end of the day. Then came day 2.
(Day 1 summary: 8 miles from 8923 ft to 10829 ft altitude gain. "Andean flat" terrain on mostly sandy paths and stones alongside rivers, trees and waterfalls. Saw the ruins Llactapata & (I think) Patawasi. Very warm during the day. Ate lunch at Wayllabamba & slept, freezing, at Ayapata).
Day 2 - Dead Woman's Pass
Not a very encouraging name, is it? Day 2 is arguably the hardest. We spent 11 hours making our way through two mountain passes. We climbed upward for five miles straight for dead woman's pass, and I really thought I'd die. The end - or should I say last 2ish miles? - was steep, uneven stairs raising us to 13779 ft at the pass. The altitude stole my breath. My fingers were numb from the cold for hours until suddenly, brilliantly, the sun burst from behind the mountain range. Then I sweat like a pig one slow step at a time until the top. We set out around 5am and I think I hit the top around 10:30am. Then we went down and up and down again. Oh my.
Even after getting within 20 minutes of the campsite, we dragged our tired bodies over to a gorgeous Inca ruin poised precariously on the mountainside. We had the site to ourselves at dusk as the clouds rolled in, lending the whole site a mysterious, tragic vibe. Incredible.
(Day 2 Summary: 7 miles from 10829ft to 13779 ft, then down to 11700ft for lunch, then up to 13123 ft for the second pass, and camp, freezing, at 11800 ft. Trail was all steep broken hundreds years old stairs alongside dry grasslands, grazing sheep & alpaca, and gorgeous views of Mt Veronica. Hung out in the ruins Runkuraqay, and explored Sayaqmarka at dusk. Lunch at Pacaymayu & camp at Chaquicocha).
Day 3. Today. Now.
We crested the third mountain pass and then hiked down down down, testing every muscle in my sore legs. But - we went through a cloud forest, the most remarkable mini ecosystem. Ferns, bromeliads, mosses & orchids are everywhere! It's so lush and different from the dry grasslands of Day 2. Now I sit on the cusp of an evening hike and - tomorrow - Machu Picchu.
Wow.
More to come.
(Day 3 Summary: 5 miles from 11800 ft to the pass at 12073 ft, then descending to a warm 8792 ft for camp. Trail was again steep broken stairs with some fun/scary short cave passages. Cloud forest scenery with many stops to learn about flora in the area. Lunch at Phuyupatamarca and camp at Winay Huayna. Sat on the terraces of Phuyupatamarca and enjoyed an evening hike to Winaywayna).
Katie
Friday, June 7, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Inca Trail Recap Part 1
I owe you all a better entry on the inca trail. I am going to lift from my journal and try not to keep it too long :)
First things first, we booked with a tour group called Llama Path. I had a few personal recommendations to use them and I'm very pleased that we did. 'Only' 500 people (including porters etc) are allowed on the trail a day, so we had to make reservations back in January. We brought our personal belongings in a backpack and rented sleeping bags & a trekking pole each. After we arrived in Cusco, we mutually agreed to hire a full porter between the three of us ($140) because we didn't have a convenient way to carry the sleeping bags or mat. As it turned out, we each were also able to throw a couple pounds of clothing etc into our porter carried duffel to lighten our loads. Totally worth it. Only four people of 14 in our group didn't have some share of a porter, and they were not happy about it on day 2!
The evening before the trek, we met in the Llama Path office for a 'briefing' and to say hello to our 11 new friends. That night, I could barely sleep in anticipation (I found out later the average amount of sleep in the group was 3-4 hours so I wasn't the only one!)
Pick up for the beginning of the trek was at 5:00am, and I was terrified. I slept fitfully on the bus and picked at breakfast. Then as we headed out, I ran into a little hitch. You see, my Inca Trail ticket read "Katie" and my passport says "Katherine." My tour guide Miguel had to step in and argue, even yell in Spanish for a good five to ten minutes. I sat on the edge of the steps looking at my whole group across the bridge ready to go. At this point it was something completely out of my control, so I tried to keep calm. To come all this way and be turned back was not an option. By the time Miguel sauntered over casually with my passport like nothing happened, I was 100% committed to dominating the trail. All fear and nervousness was gone. Let's go!!
First things first, we booked with a tour group called Llama Path. I had a few personal recommendations to use them and I'm very pleased that we did. 'Only' 500 people (including porters etc) are allowed on the trail a day, so we had to make reservations back in January. We brought our personal belongings in a backpack and rented sleeping bags & a trekking pole each. After we arrived in Cusco, we mutually agreed to hire a full porter between the three of us ($140) because we didn't have a convenient way to carry the sleeping bags or mat. As it turned out, we each were also able to throw a couple pounds of clothing etc into our porter carried duffel to lighten our loads. Totally worth it. Only four people of 14 in our group didn't have some share of a porter, and they were not happy about it on day 2!
The evening before the trek, we met in the Llama Path office for a 'briefing' and to say hello to our 11 new friends. That night, I could barely sleep in anticipation (I found out later the average amount of sleep in the group was 3-4 hours so I wasn't the only one!)
Pick up for the beginning of the trek was at 5:00am, and I was terrified. I slept fitfully on the bus and picked at breakfast. Then as we headed out, I ran into a little hitch. You see, my Inca Trail ticket read "Katie" and my passport says "Katherine." My tour guide Miguel had to step in and argue, even yell in Spanish for a good five to ten minutes. I sat on the edge of the steps looking at my whole group across the bridge ready to go. At this point it was something completely out of my control, so I tried to keep calm. To come all this way and be turned back was not an option. By the time Miguel sauntered over casually with my passport like nothing happened, I was 100% committed to dominating the trail. All fear and nervousness was gone. Let's go!!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Uros Islands, Lake Titicaca
Good evening my friends,
I hope you all are doing well. The other day Chetsi, Megan & I took a fancy bus from Cusco to Puno. It stopped five times along the way to give all of us the chance to see a magnificent 300 year old church, a few ruins and a local museum. Our tour guide was hilariously into the spiritual and esoteric. I tuned her out around the time she said that ruins at the bottom of lake Titicaca matched the description Plato gave of Atlantis. And oh, by the way - the only way the city was built was with nuclear physics. Scientists confirmed it, yep they did.
Anyway, I slept most of the time and took some neat pictures. My favorite may have been the remains of a sun temple that contained several columns the Inca used to track time. We also got to watch the landscape shift from the Andean mountain range I got to know so well to a high dry flat plain.
After arrival in Puno, we stayed in a dark, cold and empty hostel upon recommendation from my book (note: no longer recommended). We very excitedly dropped off our smelly trek clothes for laundry and grabbed a bite to eat. Still exhausted, we watched Anthony Bourdain in Peru while in Peru and passed out.
The next day we switched to a fancy hotel and wandered down to the port for our first proper glimpse of the famed Lake Titicaca. As soon as we told a tout we wanted to visit Uros Islands, we lost all control of what was going on. In Spanish, we were escorted to the proper ticket booths and herded onto a small boat. The ride was my favorite part - Lake Titicaca is impossibly blue and there were birds talking everywhere from the reeds that make Uros Island famous.
Upon arrival, we were herded again onto a make shift bench where a friendly islander explained for thirty minutes how his islands were made and his culture created - in Spanish. I shifted uncomfortably under the hot sun and tried to understand what was going on. You see, Uros Islands are "handmade" by weaving together mats of these native reeds. Floating blocks of decayed plant matter are tied together, then alternating layers of the reeds are laid on top. Under my flip flops the golden reeds were springy and soft. I almost tripped a couple of times.
Almost everything is made with these reeds - the food (we got to try some), the homes, the native boats. And lo & behold, our herd's next location was a short ride on a native boat. This was also hilarious because while originally the locals would paddle around, we are fat tourists. So a woman took her normal motorboat and wedged it into the native boat to propel it along - almost taking out a couple of tourists! One French guy made the mistake of sitting outside the normal benches and he almost lost a foot. Remind me to show you a picture of this one (it's not on my iPhone).
Anyway the boat dropped us off (for a small fee) at a place where - surprise! - we could buy more stuff. We settled for a Cusquena cervesa and made friends with an Israeli guy who recently visited Atlanta (he was a security guard for the Atlanta birthright kids in 2012. Small fucking world eh?).
Later we had dinner, drinks at a "mixology bar" that seriously impressed me, and prepared for our current journey to Arequipa & Colca Canyon.
More to come my dears.
Katie
I hope you all are doing well. The other day Chetsi, Megan & I took a fancy bus from Cusco to Puno. It stopped five times along the way to give all of us the chance to see a magnificent 300 year old church, a few ruins and a local museum. Our tour guide was hilariously into the spiritual and esoteric. I tuned her out around the time she said that ruins at the bottom of lake Titicaca matched the description Plato gave of Atlantis. And oh, by the way - the only way the city was built was with nuclear physics. Scientists confirmed it, yep they did.
Anyway, I slept most of the time and took some neat pictures. My favorite may have been the remains of a sun temple that contained several columns the Inca used to track time. We also got to watch the landscape shift from the Andean mountain range I got to know so well to a high dry flat plain.
After arrival in Puno, we stayed in a dark, cold and empty hostel upon recommendation from my book (note: no longer recommended). We very excitedly dropped off our smelly trek clothes for laundry and grabbed a bite to eat. Still exhausted, we watched Anthony Bourdain in Peru while in Peru and passed out.
The next day we switched to a fancy hotel and wandered down to the port for our first proper glimpse of the famed Lake Titicaca. As soon as we told a tout we wanted to visit Uros Islands, we lost all control of what was going on. In Spanish, we were escorted to the proper ticket booths and herded onto a small boat. The ride was my favorite part - Lake Titicaca is impossibly blue and there were birds talking everywhere from the reeds that make Uros Island famous.
Upon arrival, we were herded again onto a make shift bench where a friendly islander explained for thirty minutes how his islands were made and his culture created - in Spanish. I shifted uncomfortably under the hot sun and tried to understand what was going on. You see, Uros Islands are "handmade" by weaving together mats of these native reeds. Floating blocks of decayed plant matter are tied together, then alternating layers of the reeds are laid on top. Under my flip flops the golden reeds were springy and soft. I almost tripped a couple of times.
Almost everything is made with these reeds - the food (we got to try some), the homes, the native boats. And lo & behold, our herd's next location was a short ride on a native boat. This was also hilarious because while originally the locals would paddle around, we are fat tourists. So a woman took her normal motorboat and wedged it into the native boat to propel it along - almost taking out a couple of tourists! One French guy made the mistake of sitting outside the normal benches and he almost lost a foot. Remind me to show you a picture of this one (it's not on my iPhone).
Anyway the boat dropped us off (for a small fee) at a place where - surprise! - we could buy more stuff. We settled for a Cusquena cervesa and made friends with an Israeli guy who recently visited Atlanta (he was a security guard for the Atlanta birthright kids in 2012. Small fucking world eh?).
Later we had dinner, drinks at a "mixology bar" that seriously impressed me, and prepared for our current journey to Arequipa & Colca Canyon.
More to come my dears.
Katie
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Inca Trail
Buenos,
It's hard to know what to say about the Inca Trail yet, so I've just uploaded a couple of pictures. I didn't take hardly any with my iPhone as it was at the bottom of my bag each day. You'll have to wait until I can upload my pictures from my camera to see the trail and Machu Picchu.
For now, know that I survived and even loved it, despite some serious blisters and sore legs from a million cagillion steps (official Inca number). I feel really proud of myself. I'm looking forward to my next trek and seeing how far I can push myself.
Also, my group was awesome. Despite waking up at 3:30am we all met back up to party last night - until 2:30am! I finally had pisco sours & Cusquena beer. The bar had a live band and a jamming dance floor. Quite the celebration worthy of our achievement.
Many kisses from a finally clean Katie
<3
It's hard to know what to say about the Inca Trail yet, so I've just uploaded a couple of pictures. I didn't take hardly any with my iPhone as it was at the bottom of my bag each day. You'll have to wait until I can upload my pictures from my camera to see the trail and Machu Picchu.
For now, know that I survived and even loved it, despite some serious blisters and sore legs from a million cagillion steps (official Inca number). I feel really proud of myself. I'm looking forward to my next trek and seeing how far I can push myself.
Also, my group was awesome. Despite waking up at 3:30am we all met back up to party last night - until 2:30am! I finally had pisco sours & Cusquena beer. The bar had a live band and a jamming dance floor. Quite the celebration worthy of our achievement.
Many kisses from a finally clean Katie
<3
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Day 4 of Inca Trail
It's 5:14 in the morning. I woke up at 3:30am in a mad dash to beat the other groups to the checkpoint. We're third in line, now patiently waiting to flash our passports and begin the final hour and a half to the Sun Gate.
It's dark, but not pitch black - I can make out the silverly clouds that roll into the mountains each night. Various headlamps take turns lighting up and wobbling around. After having the inca trail to ourselves (we stayed half a day ahead of the other groups) it's strange to be surrounded now by so many people. I guess I'll have to get used to it by Machu Picchu and the anticipated 3000 other, 'lazier' visitors.
How do I feel right now, at the cusp of achievement and enlightenment?? A little bored, honestly, and a lot sore. There's a lot of grunting and yelping every time we get up or sit down. But still, it will be worth it in the end. It's worth it even now, despite the various blisters and grueling uphill portions. I found orchids growing in a cloud forest. I viewed snow capped mountains from every angle. I stumbled over a hundreds year old path like so many before me. And soon, soon I will have the best view of the mysterious Incan temple at daybreak.
Onward then, to Machu Picchu!
Katie
It's dark, but not pitch black - I can make out the silverly clouds that roll into the mountains each night. Various headlamps take turns lighting up and wobbling around. After having the inca trail to ourselves (we stayed half a day ahead of the other groups) it's strange to be surrounded now by so many people. I guess I'll have to get used to it by Machu Picchu and the anticipated 3000 other, 'lazier' visitors.
How do I feel right now, at the cusp of achievement and enlightenment?? A little bored, honestly, and a lot sore. There's a lot of grunting and yelping every time we get up or sit down. But still, it will be worth it in the end. It's worth it even now, despite the various blisters and grueling uphill portions. I found orchids growing in a cloud forest. I viewed snow capped mountains from every angle. I stumbled over a hundreds year old path like so many before me. And soon, soon I will have the best view of the mysterious Incan temple at daybreak.
Onward then, to Machu Picchu!
Katie
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